Charges and counter-charges reverberate around South Korea’s impeached president, Yoon Suk-yeol. Add “resisting arrest” to the “insurrection” claimed by his foes. Then again, how about accusing the investigators of “trespassing” — and even staging an “insurrection” of their own — in Korea’s version of “Catch Me if You Can”?

Investigators have until Monday before the expiration of a warrant issued by a Seoul district court  for Mr. Yoon’s arrest. Going into the weekend, they suffered the humiliation of retreat  after finding no way to get past his guards without people on both sides  getting hurt.  

While Mr. Yoon resists attempts to jail him, Korea’s Yonhap News is reporting that his lawyers may accuse investigators of “unauthorized trespassing” for entering the presidential compound at Seoul uninvited. Mr. Yoon however, is not exactly isolated in his presidential redoubt. Thousands of fervent sympathizers and scores of security guards are there to protect him  in a battle of wits and will between his conservative People Power Party and the leftist-led Minju, or Democratic Party. 

Against all manner of intimidation, the president and his advocates are not about to surrender in what he told a rally — in a statement read by an aide — would be “a fight to the end,” according to the BBC. They’ve even got  a slogan — “Stop the Steal” — that harkens back to the protests surrounding the outcome of the 2020 American presidential election.

Mr. Yoon’s enemies are just as eager to somehow see him ousted and imprisoned for his abortive attempt at imposing martial law a month ago. The contest between the Corruption Investigation Office and Mr. Yoon tests the power of an agency formed four years ago to root  out corruption in government. 

The concept of a special agency going after wrongdoing in high places grew out of the impeachment, jailing and ouster nearly eight years ago of another conservative president, Park Geun-hye, daughter of the dictator Park Chung-hee, who was assassinated in 1979 by his intelligence chief. Mr. Yoon, however, has the distinction of being the first sitting Korean president to face a criminal charge.

Despite claims of non-political impartiality, the CIO’s main targets are conservatives who leftists believe would restore dictatorial rule over South Korea.  It’s been 45 years since Korea was last under martial law — and  37 years since massive protests resulted in Korea’s “democracy constitution” stipulating presidential elections every five years.

Having lost face by giving up on Mr. Yoon’s arrest on Friday, CIO investigators see their prestige and authority at stake in the standoff. The only reason the CIO retreated on Friday, it said in a statement carried by Yonhap, was “concern for the safety of on-site personnel caused by the resistance.” 

The Minju majority in the national assembly, having impeached Mr. Yoon for his martial law decree, has also impeached the prime minister who replaced him as acting president, Han Duck-soo, and threatens to impeach the deputy prime minister, Choi Sang-mok, who replaced Mr. Han. 

Minju leaders demand that acting President Choi approve their choice for one more member of the nine-member constitutional court, six of whom are needed to approve Mr. Yoon’s impeachment. The court, with eight sitting members, has begun deliberations on whether Mr. Yoon can regain the power of the presidency.

First, however, the Corruption Investigation Office wants Mr. Choi to let the CIO arrest  him — the initial step in a process that would likely result in his conviction and imprisonment. Mr. Yoon’s fans, though, are ebullient. “We won,” said signs they hoisted after the CIO called off its team before the weekend, Yonhap reports. 

Mr. Yoon’s lawyers, when they met CIO investigators at the gate of the presidential residence, told them the investigation was “illegal” and “unconstitutional,” and guards blocked entry  as a matter of “security.”